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Hideo Ashida
Referenced in * The Black Dahlia * Perfidia *This Storm History Hideo is a Japanese-American lab technician in the LAPD. Before joining he went to Belmont High with Jack Webb and Bucky Bleichert, the latter of which he had a crush on. When entering school he received advanced degrees in chemistry & biology, one a Ph.D he got at Stanford at the 22. His superior, Ray Pinker, is his is his mentor. Perfidia Hideo and Ray Pinker investigate a series of robberies and through an invention he created they are able to catch the license plate of the culprit. When Lee Blanchard and Turner "Buzz" Meeks arrive they go into the drug store and find out the thief took only phenobarbital. On top of that Hideo discovers a red thread and the bullet. Taking it home he analyzes it and calls Buzz to tell him of his findings. It's also revealed that Hideo is gay and had a crush on his friend, Bucky Bleichert for years. Hideo and Bucky discuss his upcoming fight at the Olympic Stadium. Looking over the scene Hideo sees hesitation marks on the backs of the bodies and explains the intricacies of sepupuku (ritual suicides) but in the process finds a mauve thread on each body, denoting it was a murder. He also discovers bullets fired from a silencer, like at the drug store. Hideo and Ray test the bullets and find they're both from Lugers, one blue steel and white pearl grips inlaid with black swatiskas and rubies. Hideo also mentions how Dudley found reichsmarks in the house. Hideo and Ray go to the crime scene and he is told even though the Alien Squad has been created an FBI agent, Ward Litell, is watching his mom. While examining the crime scene he comes back to wondering why someone would hang up laundry on the day they were going to commit suicide. Going through dusting he discovers a new fingerprint, and with Ray, while examining the letter, comes to the conclusion the killer is Japanese. Afterwards, going over the house he discovers a secret room where it is revealed they were communicating with Japan. He decides to suppress his findings and make it his investigation. Hideo goes to the Japanese farms and smells fish oil, similar to what he'd previously found in the home. Finding nothing worth seeing he goes to talk to brother, Akira, who tells him Bucky will probably turn them in. Afterwards he breaks into Deutsches Haus where he finds more pearl gripped, onyx swatiska covered Lugers with silencers. Going back to the lab he test them and confirms that they match the heist man and home shooters. After hearing he'll be let go from Ray, he runs to City Hall and, noticing the taps, tells Bill he can take them out as long as he's protected and allowed to stay on the Watanabe case, to which Bill agrees. Hideo thinks on how he'd received Lee and Elmer and his new friend Kay. It also occurs to him that Jim Davis, who speaks Chinese, may help in using the Chinese as muscle against the Japanese. Hideo goes over the clues, the fish oil at the house, shrimp oil on the bodies' feet, and fish smell at the farm and can't figure what it means. Asking his mom if Carlos Madrano or any one else wanted to buy the house she says no, which sends him back to his work at home. When Bucky comes to his home and admits what he did Hideo punches him. Hideo and Lee go to question Japanese prisoners but leave dejected when he's recognized as a race traitor. Going back to the house knowing he missed something simple at the house he goes and finds another recording sent after the murders. When he goes to leave he runs into Dudley who says he's a better person to side with over Bill. Hideo goes to Goleta to inspect a Jap submarine attack. When he arrives he finds various body parts and, in a shed, catches the oil fish oil smell he's previously encountered and see a starburst cut on one of the bodies. Hideo takes the tire molds and finds they were the same as Larkin's hit and run. Larkin, who had a purple sweater. Jack said he located some calls to pay phone by aircraft companies but Lee says it means nothing. Hideo's called to the scene of the murders committed by Dudley and Ace and finds an old knife. He also thinks one of the men is mixed. Buzz tells Bill it reminds him of Huey's heist mates. When Hideo tells something about Larkin is bugging him he's told to go back and while there is drawn to the koi pond. He also notes the calls made near the aircraft plants. Going to Nort's lab they find out Ryoshi had an old scar with a knife like Hideo saw before. Hideo ponders the different oils he's encountered in the case and what he missed. Hideo and Bill investigate the Larkin murder and assume it was done by a professional and discover he had knife marks. Going to see a prisoner involved with shrimp canning he, Wallace Hodaka, has no info on the people but can confirm white men were looking to buy Japanese property. Kay calls and talks to him about the movie, a passing concern to him. Going back to the house he discovers what he had forgotten: no pegs for the swords. When Dudley comes he tells him and it was premeditated since he brought them in prior. Leaving he goes to Nort who tells them they were poisoned so he figures they were poisoned, retched, their clothes were washed, then murdered with The Knife. Hideo calls PC Bell and gets nothing than talks to Nort about his knife theory, how it was used after the poison paralyzed the Watanabes. He also says the poison has to have been made by a chemist or someone who knows one. He also looks for ceremonial swords but finds none. Nort tells him no ceremonial sword could have made those marks so it had to be the knife him and Bill found by the dead men in Griffith Park. Hideo thinks about Kay's movie. Going to check his gizmo he finds it took a photo of Shudo by Whalen's so tells Jack. Surprisingly Jack tells him he planted the Shudo's prints in the Watanabe house. Dudley confronts Hideo about what he's hidden and tells him he'll protect him regardless. He asks Hideo if he can forge a back dated letter showing Shudo and Ryoshi had a beef to which he says yes. When Dudley asks him about his take on Kay and Bill to which he says they're insane and in love with each other but don't know it. Going home Hideo finds a note from Dudley that divulges his camera's faulty and letting him know that he knows his secret. Hideo finds out that Sid and Jack Webb are covering a game at Ace's that's supposed to be robbed. Hideo also learns Mayor Bowron has been bashing him, calling him a Yellow Spot. At work after hours Hideo listens to Bowron's private recorded calls and finds out they plan to sack him in February with the internment but it'll be tough since Dudley likes him. The call ends with Bowron saying he's going to get a girl from Brenda Allen. Also Bowron and Jack plan on ruining Bill's career. Scotty's notes are delivered to Hideo and he finds Bill and they exchange the binder and the notes. Bill tells him about the shrimp boat and the empty canning facility with a shrimp oil facility. Hideo says Larkin was Fifth Column and was associates of the Watanabes and another shortwave radio man. They don't know who the purple sweater man is but thinks it him and he was the one who killed them both. Also none of this connects with Exley et. al. on the buyout internment scheme. but now Dudley is going in with them. Bill doesn't blame Hideo for going with Dudley. Trekking the land around the houses Hideo finds soil samples with shrimp soil confirming that the applied areas were going to be used for construction on parkways and internment camps. The Watanabe house was in this area. When going back to the Watanabe house he discovers something he missed, a pair of small, cashmere socks. Hideo continues to wonder who the purple sweater and cashmere sock man are or if they are the same person. Going to ask Bill if he's made any progress, he says no that McPherson didn't want to go forward so he could do all he could do. When Hideo goes to ask Dudley to ask him if he can do anything for him and his family, he says he has made sure they'd be protected so long as Hideo helped him out. Hideo steals Bill's research materials he used to question Exley and Patchett and realizes he couldn't ask some questions namely if they knew in advance of the Pearl Harbor attack. While he pours over them he keeps coming to what he missed, someone did something, said something. Thinking he remembers how Kay said she saw Exley speaking to someone four blocks from Lesnick's office, further he remembered Pierce Patchett was located there as well. Breaking into Patchett's office he finds phone bills with Exley, Lesnick, and Lux going back months. He also finds calls to a radio supply store. Among the numbers also is a number to a pay phone that was used by the Watanabes and Jim Larkin. All the calls stopped on 12/6 as well. Going into his inner office Hideo finds a letter opener with a swastika on it and a map with radio signal spots at Lux's sanitarium, the pay phones, and the Watanabe house. Further he finds that Patchett was behind the escapees and was setting them up with a means to escape by sub in Mexico. Going by Chung's house he sees him and Lesnick talking and notices Lesnick's small feet. At the end he realizes the real Fifth Column is right and left wing war profiteers. Come back. Ward tells Hideo and his family will be at the Biltmore until they're sent away in late February. When Hideo learns Dudley was stabbed he rushes to over Kwan's and sees a blooded Dudley but thanks to the aid of Ruth, Nort, and Chung he survives. Seeing that he goes out in the alley and breaks into tears while being comforted by Claire. This Storm Bill calls Hideo down to deal with a brutal car crash. When he gets there they find four dead men a two children, 1 dead, and one who dies in his arms. Watching as the part winds down and people doze off, Hideo sees Kay's reaction as Bill comes in with Joan. Not long after Thad tells him he needs to come with him due to bodies being found when a mudslide dislodged them in Griffith Park. He looks over the dirt from the box and later gets a call from Dudley. Hideo goes to help Dudley and discovers that the 16 Japs were killed by three men with American made, police issued S&Ws .38. In the sub they find money, this time in an attache case. Going over files next Hideo discovers one that could be a suspect, a Kyoho Hanamaka, a Japanese naval attache. At Dudley's place Claire is still entranced by the so far unknown Joan. After dinner when Hideo asks what he's doing there Dudley tells him he's going to save his family and get him an Army posting with him. Working in the lab on the paperwork for the case Hideo finds out the man's name is Karl Frederick Tullock, an ex-cop in the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Department. When he goes through the clothes returned with the paperwork he finds gold in a pants cuff. Hideo thinks about the gold and how he wants and needs the gold more than Joan. He goes through old newspaper articles and looks over the details of the case. The train was robbed and the criminals it was transporting escaped, all but one was killed. One man, Fritz Wilhelm Eckelkamp, a German-born WWI veteran. He robbed banks and jewelry stores and stows away on a steamships and comes here. In '27 he migrated to California and settles in Oakland. He reverts to armed robbery and liquor-store jobs. It’s high risk for low yield. Fritz falls behind multiple counts. He gets twenty-five to life at Big Q where he becomes a virtuoso jailhouse lawyer and learns to write Federal writs. He secures a retrial. The Federal court’s in L.A. Fritz Wilhelm Eckelkamp. Missing since 5/18/31. Karl Frederick Tullock. Reported missing 1/12/34. Hideo goes over his notes. He reviewed his stat sheets and compiled a checklist. Secure Eckelkamp’s Oakland police file. Secure his Quentin file. Secure Tullock’s Santa Barbara Sheriff’s personnel file. The mint train resumes its southbound journey. There’s a second track snafu. The heist occurs then. The theft is discovered at the Santa Barbara stop. Leander Frechette is grabbed for it. Karl Tullock “beats on him.” A Negro preacher intercedes and greases Frechette’s release. The preacher has “cop friends in L.A.” Frechette drops from sight. Hideo wonders where Frechette is and who the black pastor's cop friends are. Looking at the fire case he sees that an Asian man dressed nicely and looks over how the crime could've been made from both scenarios. Going back to the lab he looks over the nugget and finds it has a marking that says it has a corresponding locker. When he looks over the bullet grooves from the Tullock's skull and another bullets they collected connected to a robbery and see they match. Later going to the locker he finds a gold bar. Hideo holds the gold bar as his racial bargaining chip and continues to investigate, finding out Wayne Frank was the robber at the liquor stores. He asks Elmer and learns nothing. Talking to Dudley he asks Hideo to ask around about Glennon, Leng/Matsura/Chung, and Hanamaka who'd in Little Tokyo. Elmer has nothing and he figures Chung at al is Fifth Column. Hideo looks over the information he got on Meyer Gelb and the YSA, other suspects in the fire, and notices familiar names as the Lesnicks appear on it. He vows to keep this info from Joan and as he's working Dudley comes to tell him he's been okayed to join with him. Hideo tries to get information from the FBI and comes up empty. Later in the day he goes to a party where's he inducted into the Army as a lieutenant. As the party goes forward Dudley shows Hideo (and others) the gold bayonet, which he soon after takes pictures of. Hideo finds out the gold from the bayonet and gold bar are the same, and in fact, mint. When confronted by Joan they decide to find the gold together and split it. As Hideo works in the house he notes how Elmer's vanished. Inspecting the bodies him and Joan argue over the nature of the crime scene and eventually Joan figures out they were killed with an icepick and he figures it out it was not only in the neck but chest as well. Hideo realizes Dudley knows about the gold and it'll need to be split three ways. While in the lab he discovers that the third victim is Arturo "Archie" Archuleta. He comes to the conclusion that the gold heist and mass escape from the train were one event that involved Fritz Ecklecamp as the common element. He also figures Leander Frechette seeing as how he'd big enough to lug the gold was involved as well with Wayne Frank Jackson. Overall he thinks it all comes down to the klubhaus, Ecklehamp, Hanamaka, and the Fifth Column converging. Hideo goes through the klubhaus again and discovers magazines with articles by Link Rockwell. He also goes through Glennon's address book and sees Lin Chung, Saul Lesnick, Orson Welles, and Jaime. The fingerprint on it is odd and it takes him a while to figure out it was Hanamaka's print. He also posits that the victims were moved down there and a woman was present. Hideo meets with Huey, Pimentel, and Dudley and go to the Hanamaka house. Going over all of it he finds a thread from the same Hawaiian shirt that Rice wore. At the end he sees Huey and Pimentel having sex in the surveillance house. Hideo and Pimentel surveil the bookie room. While doing so, Pimentel mentions a rumor that in 1940 Nazi and Communist officials came and during a confab melted down gold into artifacts. Upon taking their photos he takes them back to the lab and develops them and discovers the name of the men, Ramon Santa Cruz. After this Pimentel and him raid the bookie room and kill various people. Hideo learns from Joan about Rice's gold bayonet. Also, while debriefing a bus full of internees bound for Ventura County and getting spit on he learns that one of the men worked for Hanamaka. While he does this Staties fill the bus with heroin. Hideo is promoted to First Lieutenant and Pimentel is promoted to head the Staties. He and Joan have frequent calls regarding the gold cases as well and figure the heist, fire, and klubhaus are separate conspiracies and aren't over. He notes how Young Joan is expecting a package from New York and is tailing Claire for Dudley. He thinks of all the cases, the klubhaus seems unconnected, a homosexual crime of passion, a crime he wants to solve. Hideo and Dudley rush down to 46th to squelch a riot after the attack. The klubhaus is set on fire. He kills a kid. While at the wake Hideo thinks about he hopes to pick up where she left off. He learns of Joan's diary as well and later questions Elmer about Cal's death. He also learns that Cal had warned a Japanese man from the house and that on further questioning, it was Hanamaka. Hideo figures Kay omitted the gold quest and at the same times realized she shared her, unsaid commitment, to a clean klubhaus solve. When Dudley tells him to go to Joan's place and forensic it and get the diary he goes and burns papers to make it appear as if Joan burned her it. He realizes he's committed treason due to Dudley reciprocating his feelings. In the Crash Squad meeting Thad tells them they have to solve the klubhaus arson case and that Hideo and Lee would be working it together. From Ray they also find out it was definitely arson and how it occurred. Later Hideo is told Shudo is being moved and after he watches it he's attacked by Elmer until Breuning gets in his way. Thad talks to the Crash Squad about how the raid and how its purpose was to find out if Kapek and Rice sold the Sinarquistas the confiscated guns. Bill also tells them to go rest. After the meeting Elmer apologizes to Hideo for insulting him and produces the microdot sheet. When Hideo asks him where he got it Elmer says at Bev's and it was connected to a PO Box Gelb had in La Paz. When they go to the lab to see if they can read it they come up empty. He tells Hideo it's in his hands now and Kay trusted him for a reason and may be up to something good. Going to his locker Hideo gives him the block of gold and says he deserves it since his brother died for it and he's lost interest in it since Joan died. All he say he wants is a clean solve. He also tells him to bring the postcards that Jean gave him and he'd check for microdots. He does tell Elmer however he would need to report anything he finds on the raid to Dudley to which he says ok and that Buzz and him killed Glennon. Hideo and Lee question Mondo Diaz and after much patience and finding out that he has an education in chemistry he got in Germany he beats him. After all is said and done Diaz betrays Abascal and says he's playing the real left-right field, something called the "Kameraden." He goes on to say they have mail drops, work in microdot technology, and do shakedowns and are invisible and everywhere. Before leaving Baja he apologizes to Dudley for killing Pimentel seeing as what he'd done to his businesses. Dudley says he's set him up with superior quarters in Manzanar and they agree to continue to work on the cases. When going up to Manzanar he's given special treatment much to the consternation of his fellow internees. When he arrives he's escorted by Dan Wilhite to his place where he finds three stacks of paper. Later that night he's beaten up. Hideo talks with Kay and Bill about the faux Claire letter and how a Beth one will soon follow. Going over the three cases stacks he digs in. Before going in he thinks how's he found out from Elmer that Jean is Ed's snitch and Bev's is owned by Joe Hayes and the Ness family. Jean also drove Fritz Ecklekamp down past the roadblocks after the gold heist and Lux and Chung grafted Gelb's burnt hands. Going chronologically Hideo goes back to '27 and over Ecklekamp's arrests for robberies. He's soon arrested and sent to prison wherein he manages to get a retrial. Knowing there's labor problems on the railroad and schedule of the gold transport, the heist and robbery are combined. Going back to his time in jail he recalls how Ecklekamp met Leander Frechette an African American labor thug who was pretending to be stupid and was also incredibly strong. Frechette mentioned he did occasional gold heists. They discussed a gold heist in jest did gold heist jobs but when they met it was only a talk. In this same time they meet Wayne Frank, who's also in Alameda Jail for vagrancy. At this time Mimms comes to visit and free Frechette who's been beaten by Karl Tullock in Santa Barbara seeing as how he's close with Jim Davis. Frechette create both train snafus and offloads the gold to an unknown entity. In all this Hideo figures out Ecklekamp is Gelb. When he goes to see man in a hospital he knows to be Hanamaka he learns that Terry Lux and Lin Chung cut Fritz a new face when Jean got him past the roadblocks due to Jim Davis. He also learns that Ecklekamp, Wayne Frank, and Frechette all met in Alameda Jail in '28. After the heist the now Gelb has Wayne killed Karl Tullock who'd been leaning on Frechette and as it turns out when Hanamaka had asked Rice and Kapek to take care of the coffin before it was unearthed by the storm. When Hideo asks how'd Wayne fake his death he learns that he killed by using Wallace Jamie's brother's George's fake dental work made by Terry Lux, which he had to kill him to insert. When asked about the fire he's told Gelb had gotten Ralph D. Barr to set the Griffith Park fire to use as a Red metaphor. He also says their cabal was increased in Germany to include Diaz, Hayes, and Pimentel and that the gold itself was entrusted to a Mexican Stalinist to use for political purposes while one bar was left in storage in Los Angeles. As far as Gelb's location Hanamaka says no one knows and he wasn't in fact the mastermind behind the gold heist, Wayne Frank was. He also adds that both Frechette and Wayne went to parts unknown. Hideo goes and visits Hanamaka again. When asked about the klubhaus he says it was an eclectic mix but per the murderers couldn't name them, only saying there was in fact a gay man and a psychotic sword fetishist and added there was a frizzy-haired woman. When asked about the gold all he can is the chain of custody went from Frechette and Mimms to Gelb to the Mexican Stalinist. He adds he was sent to the hideout to restore order to the klubhaus by Juan Vasquez-Cruz. Hideo goes to visit Hanamaka again and finds out about Rice and Kapek. He's told both were second generation rightists who acted as henchmen to both Madrano and Vasquez-Cruz. When asked if they were homosexual Hanamaka says no but Archuleta could procure trinkets such as a sword from the Rape of Nanking and once brought an internally spiked suit of armor which he perceived to be militaristically-homosexual. Archuleta said he was the middle man for a fruit who sold them on the jazz strip but whose sister was the brains behind it. Hideo thinks of Jean Staley but quickly dismisses it due to her brother being an actor not a musician and probably not tall. Though Hanamaka does identify Robby Staley, which ties him once removed from the gay killer and sword man. Going back to Manzanar Hideo reads the letter and listens to the tape and when Dudley calls lies to him about the interviews. Hideo procures the material to make the false memo and types it up. Hideo and Lee go up to San Francisco to talk to Leander Frechette. Before going Hideo thinks how Elmer called, crying in apology for holding back the sabotage lead. Through the process of creating the minutes he figures, Gelb not Abascal is the Number One man. He also figures Dudley knows he betrayed him. When questioning Frechette, he confirms the cabal's chain of command and admits he keeps in touch, through mail-drop, with people in L.A. but won't name names. He goes on to say that Hanamaka may be wrong as to gold's whereabouts and instead of Abascal and Gelb, Wayne Frank and Reverend Mimms might be more the ones to look to for that. He said Mimms wanted his share of the gold and rented the klubhaus to some Sinarquista thugs and inserted Rockwell to find out and in fact he did. He found out Abascal and Wayne Frank had it not Gelb. He says as far as the rest of the story Mimms could tell it better, finally when asked about the goings-on at the klubhaus he says he can't speak to that but the jazzman had to be Chuckie Dusquene. Buzz says Elmer found Johnny Shinnura's place and two bedrolls in his investigation of Dusquene. He also tosses Hideo with palm-weighted gloves that corroborates Hideo's woman and man team in the murders. In addition they find out from the Teletype that Mimms and Rockwell are back in town. Before going back to Manzanar, Hideo goes to visit Mimms and Rockwell. Before going there he finds out Dudley is also looking for Chuckie Dusquene. While there he's shown a closet full of gold bars, but is soon told are in fact fake. Rockwell says when he infiltrated the klubhaus he found out Carbajal had a falling out with Abascal. Carbajal put some leads together and found out the gold was in San Diego so he and him and Mimms brought in Ed to procure a writ seizure to put it in a nearby warehouse. He then flew it up to Los Angeles where Mimms, through a metallurgist, found it to be fake. It's explained to Hideo how Frechette, Mimms, Hanamaka, Jackson, Abascal, Matsura, and Leng were all involved in the gold heist. The Kameraden was developed in Dresden Poly Tech when they saw Abascal speak about the coming war and ideological fluidity and he became the head of the cabal after Gelb who was extorting Jews. Category:Characters from The Black Dahlia Category:Characters from Perfidia Category:Characters from This Storm Category:Gay characters